Yulin Gushu Tea (Rainforest Ancient Tree Tea)
On tea streets across China, you'll often see shops with green signs reading "Old-tree tea, drink Yulin." This is Yulin Gushu Tea (Rainforest Ancient Tree Tea). Compared with long-established brands that came out of the state-owned factories, Yulin is a new brand founded in the 2010s, and it put "old-tree tea" (gushu) right in its name from the start.
What Kind of Brand Is Yulin Gushu Tea?
Yulin Gushu Tea belongs to Menghai Yulin Guchafang Tea Co., Ltd. According to the company's official website:
- Founded: registered in August 2013, launching its first products the same year. Before that, from 2009 to 2012, the team visited tea mountains across Xishuangbanna to survey old tea tree resources and set production standards.
- Headquarters: Yulin Estate, in Manmai Village, Mengsong Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna, covering more than 500 mu (about 33 hectares), with a refining and production center and warehousing. Its national sales center is in Guangzhou.
- Brands: it operates two brand names, "Yulin Guchafang" and "Yulin Gushu Tea." The "Yulin Guchafang" trademark was created in 2015, and in 2022 the China National Intellectual Property Administration granted it extended protection as a well-known trademark.
- Scale: the website says it has more than 4,000 stores worldwide, with products covering old-tree raw pu'er, old-tree ripe pu'er, old-tree black tea, and old-tree white tea.
Mengsong, where it's headquartered, is one of Menghai County's important tea mountains. See Mengsong: Naka, Baotang, and Huazhuliangzi.
What Yulin Is Known For
What makes Yulin most recognizable is how it classifies old-tree tea by taste. Its website states that all its material comes from old trees over a hundred years old, and it uses three flavor types, "bitter tea, sweet tea, and bitter-sweet tea," as its production benchmarks:
- Bitter tea: noticeable bitterness on entry that fades quickly, common in material from around Bulang Mountain.
- Sweet tea: light bitterness, high sweetness, and a gentle liquor.
- Bitter-sweet tea: bitterness and sweetness interwoven, with more layers.
These three types reflect the reality of Xishuangbanna's old tea gardens. Lao Man'e, for example, is famous for having both bitter and sweet tea trees in the same village. Yulin has also built an old-tree tea archive, which its website says holds more than 30,000 samples from different mountains, villages, years, and seasons.
On the product side, Yulin centers on "vintage old-tree tea," releasing one series each year, running continuously since 2013. It also has products named after mountains, such as Pasha and Hekai, and big-tree teas from the Bulang Mountain and Banzhang regions.
Yulin's Product Tiers
Yulin's products fall into several lines, positioned from everyday drinking to collecting:
| Product line | Positioning |
|---|---|
| Store collection series | Old-tree raw, ripe, black, and white teas for daily drinking, including convenient boxed and combination packs |
| Traditional series (vintage old-tree tea) | One series of cakes and tuocha each year, the brand's mainstay |
| Mountain and big-tree products | Named after regions such as Pasha, Hekai, Bulang Mountain, and Banzhang, with higher-grade material, at the top of the range |
| Custom series | Products made to order for companies or specific clients |
Overall, Yulin's prices range from everyday drinking tea to high-end single-mountain big-tree tea, with tiers determined mainly by mountain, tree age, and material grade. For how prices come about, read What Drives the Price of Pu'er.
Yulin's Old-Tree Positioning
Yulin has staked its whole brand on "old-tree tea": its name, slogan, and product classification all revolve around it. Its website also lists domestic and international organic certifications.
For tea drinkers, "old tree" is a term that needs to be made concrete: the industry has no consistent standard for how old a tree must be to count as old, or how to confirm material really comes from old trees. A more practical approach is to see whether a brand clearly states the region, village, and picking season, and then use your own senses to judge the liquor's body, huigan (the sweet aftertaste), and staying power. For the difference between old-tree, big-tree, and terrace tea, see Old-Tree, Big-Tree, and Terrace Tea; for how to tell them apart, see Telling Old-Tree Tea from Terrace Tea.
What to Check When Buying
- Series and year: teas all called old-tree tea are positioned differently in the store collection and vintage series. Go by the production date on the package for the year.
- Mountain and flavor type: if you like bitterness followed by huigan, start with bitter or bitter-sweet tea; if you're not fond of bitterness, try the sweet type first.
- Channel: Yulin has authorized stores and official online channels, and buying through authorized channels gives you more assurance.
FAQ
Which company makes Yulin Gushu Tea? Menghai Yulin Guchafang Tea Co., Ltd., founded in August 2013 and headquartered in Mengsong Township, Menghai County, Xishuangbanna.
What is Yulin known for? Mainly old-tree pu'er, classified into three flavor types (bitter, sweet, and bitter-sweet), with a vintage old-tree tea series released each year.
Is all Yulin tea old-tree tea? Its website says all its material comes from old trees over a hundred years old, with products covering raw, ripe, black, and white tea.
What's Yulin's price range? From the everyday store collection series to high-end single-mountain big-tree tea, with tiers mainly determined by mountain, tree age, and material grade.
How is Yulin different from Dayi? Dayi comes from the state-owned Menghai Tea Factory and is known for its blend recipes; Yulin is a newer brand founded in 2013, focused on old-tree tea and single-mountain character.